Yet as grim as these year-end readings appear to be, there are signs that the long nightmare for American homeowners is in its terminal stage, and that, maybe, just maybe, home prices will bottom and begin to turn by the spring of 2013—if not before.

Laing's article cites numerous economists and points to many metrics that seem to signal an imminent bottom.

Of course, he also offers some warnings.

The biggest impediment to a turn in the home market remains the so-called shadow inventory of some 3.671 million homes, according to estimates by Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics: those that remain somewhere in the foreclosure pipeline. Payments on some are 90-plus days delinquent; others are already lender-owned properties, known as REOs (real estate owned), that haven't yet been listed for sale.

Laing reminds us that Barron's has been prescient in calling inflection points in the housing market:

This confidence index, Shiller notes, topped out almost seven years ago, in the very month that he boldly predicted in a Barron's article that the U.S. home market was on the verge of a monumental collapse that would see prices fall an inflation-adjusted 50% ("The Bubble's New Home," June 20, 2005).

"It's amazing how on target that prediction was, since nationally the market is already down 40% in real terms," Shiller said in a recent telephone interview.

Yet as grim as these year-end readings appear to be, there are signs that the long nightmare for American homeowners is in its terminal stage, and that, maybe, just maybe, home prices will bottom and begin to turn by the spring of 2013—if not before.